Prince Philip's best gaffes - Telegraph Prince Philip Prince Philip's best gaffes The Duke of Edinburgh has made a string of memorable gaffes during his reign as the Queen's consort. Here is a selection of his most notable quotes as he offers his own unique advice to people all over the world. 1963 Speaking about the rate of British tax, he said: "All money nowadays seems to be produced with a natural homing instinct for the Treasury." 1965 On seeing an exhibition of "primitive" Ethiopian art, he muttered: "It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from her school art lessons." 1966 The Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne preparing a barbecue on the Estate at Balmoral Castle in 1972 (Getty) The Duke famously proclaimed: "British women can't cook". 1967 When asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union: "I would like to go to Russia very much, although the bastards murdered half my family." 1969 The Duke said to Tom Jones after his Royal Variety Performance: "What do you gargle with, pebbles?".

He later added: "It is very difficult at all to see how it is possible to become immensely valuable by singing what I think are the most hideous songs." On the Royal Family's finances: "We go into the red next year. I shall probably have to give up polo." 1976 On a tour of Canada: "We don't come here for our health. We can think of other ways of enjoying ourselves." 1981 During the recession he mused: “Everybody was saying we must have more leisure.

Now they are complaining they are unemployed." 1984 When accepting a figurine from a woman during a visit to Kenya he asked: "You are a woman aren't you?" 1986 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip during their 1986 Tour of China (Rex) He told a World Wildlife Fund meeting that "if it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and flies but is not an aeroplane and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." While on an official visit to China, he told a group of British exchange students living in the city of Xian: "If you stay here much longer you'll all be slitty–eyed." His thoughts on Beijing: "Ghastly." • Duke of Edinburgh defends 'slitty-eyed' gaffe 1993 To a British tourist in Hungary in he quipped: "You can't have been here that long — you haven't got a pot belly." To survivors of the Lockerbie bombing he told them: "People usually say that after a fire it is water damage that is the worst.

We are still drying out Windsor Castle." 1994 "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?", he asked an islander in the Cayman Islands. To a Caribbean rabbit breeder in Anguilla, he said: "Don't feed your rabbits pawpaw fruit — it acts as a contraceptive. Then again, it might not work on rabbits." 1995 He asked a Scottish driving instructor in Oban: "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?" 1996 Following the Dunblane massacre, he questioned the need for a firearms ban: "If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" 1998 The Duke asked a British student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea: "You managed not to get eaten then?" 1999 In Cardiff he told children from the British Deaf Association, who were standing by a Caribbean steel band: "If you're near that music it's no wonder you're deaf".

2000 To guests at the opening reception of a new £18million British Embassy in Berlin: "It's a vast waste of space." At a Buckingham Palace drinks party, he told group of female Labour MPs: "Ah, so this is feminist corner then." On being offered fine Italian wines by Giuliano Amato, the former Prime Minister, at a dinner in Rome, he is said to have uttered: "Get me a beer. I don't care what kind it is, just get me a beer!" "People think there's a rigid class system here, but dukes have been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans." 2001 To Elton John: "Oh it's you that owns that ghastly car is it? We often see it when driving to Windsor Castle." 2002 While touring a factory near Edinburgh he said a fuse box was so crude it "looked as though it had been put in by an Indian".

2002 The Duke of Edinburgh talks to Aboriginal performers in Cairns in 2002 (Fiona Hanson/PA) To Australian Aborigines during a visit to Australia with the Queen he asked: "Do you still throw spears at each other?" To the Aircraft Research Association, he said: "If you travel as much as we do, you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort, provided you don't travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly." 2009 Said to black dance troupe Diversity at the Royal Variety Performance: "Are you all one family?" To a young fashion designer at Buckingham Palace he told him: "You didn't design your beard too well, did you? You really must try better with your beard." On asking a female Sea Cadet what she did for a living, and being told that she worked in a nightclub (as a barmaid), the Duke asked “Is it a strip club?” Observing her surprise he dismissed the suggestion saying that it was “probably too cold for that anyway”. 2010 At a prize-giving ceremony for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards a girl told him that she'd been to Romania to help in an orphanage.

He replied: "Oh yes, there's a lot of orphanges in Romania - they must breed them". Asked Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Tory leader whether she was wearing tartan knickers when welcoming Benedict XVI to Edinburgh. 2011 On approaching his 90th birthday: "Bits are beginning to drop off". To the managing director of a wind farm company, the prince said wind turbines were "absolutely useless" and "an absolute disgrace". 2012 David Miller (Eddie Mulholland) When meeting a 60-year-old disabled man : "How many people have you knocked over this morning on that thing?" David Miller, a trustee of the Valentine Mansion in Redbridge, said he took no offence. Others that are undated: "YOU have mosquitos. I have the Press." - To the matron of a hospital in the Caribbean. "If it doesn't fart or eat hay then she isn't interested" - speaking about his daughter, Princess Anne. "Can you tell the difference between them?" - The Duke's question after President Barack Obama said he met with the leaders of the UK, China and Russia. "The problem with London is the tourists. They cause the congestion.

If we could just stop the tourism, we could stop the congestion." - on London traffic. "Well, you'll never fly in it, you're too fat to be an astronaut." - to a 13-year-old whilst visiting a space shuttle. “You look like you’re ready for bed!” - To the President of Nigeria, dressed in traditional robes. Prince William and Kate Called ‘Royal Parasites’ in Quebec | TIME.com Prince William and Kate Called ‘Royal Parasites’ in Quebec Follow @TIMENewsfeed Britain’s photogenic royals have Canada in a tizzy, but not all Quebecois bid them a hearty bienvenue. Prince William and his wife Catherine were welcomed to French-speaking territory by the mayor of Quebec City, bearskin helmeted troops of the 22nd regiment, and even a doleful glance from the regimental goat, Baptiste. Just down the road, however, some 300 antimonarchists communicated their displeasure via ever-provocative saucepan lids, vuvuzelas and bagpipes. The young band of separatists trotted out their best English for signs that read, “Royal parasites!

Go home!” “Pay for your trip” and “Kate go UK yourself.” Fearful of clouding their cause, some handed out leaflets entreating fellow protesters to “gardez votre calme.” “We have no bad feelings about the British empire,” explained Julien Gaudreau, 23-year-old member of the Quebec Resistance Movement. “We want to change the constitution here, not because of what happened in the past, but what will happen in the future.” (PHOTOS: Prince William and Kate Middleton in North America ) There was little chance that their cries for freedom would reach Prince William as he spoke in halting French outside city hall. “C’est un honneur pour nous d’être parmi vous … merci votre patience avec mon accent,” he said as the crowd cheered. Instead of making imperious faux pas like their predecessors (Prince Phillip asked a Cayman Islander in 1994, “Aren’t most of you descended from pirates?”), the young royals adopted an air of regal detachment. “The couple are taking it in their stride,” the prince’s spokesman said of the protests. “They are getting a very warm welcome.

They consider [the demonstrations] as all part of the rich fabric of Canada.” Ah protests, just part of the local color. Allez-y old chaps! What are some of the most politically incorrect things ever said? - Quora Quora I would vote for the Duke of Edinburgh. Not content to be politically incorrect once, he has demonstrated consistency in the face of adversity over the past 50 years. The following from the Daily Telegraph:- (enjoy!) The Duke of Edinburgh By Andrew Hough The Duke of Edinburgh has made a string of memorable quotes during his reign as the Queen's consort. On his 90th birthday, here is a selection of his memorable gaffes as he offers his own unique advice to people all over the world. 1963 Speaking about the rate of British tax, he said: "All money nowadays seems to be produced with a natural homing instinct for the Treasury." 1965 On seeing an exhibition of "primitive" Ethiopian art, he muttered: "It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from her school art lessons." 1966 The Duke famously proclaimed: "British women can't cook".

1967 When asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union: "I would like to go to Russia very much, although the bastards murdered half my family." 1969 The Duke said to Tom Jones after his Royal Variety Performance: "What do you gargle with, pebbles?". He later added: "It is very difficult at all to see how it is possible to become immensely valuable by singing what I think are the most hideous songs." On the Royal Family's finances: "We go into the red next year. I shall probably have to give up polo." 1976 On a tour of Canada: "We don't come here for our health. We can think of other ways of enjoying ourselves." 1981 During the recession he mused: “Everybody was saying we must have more leisure.

Now they are complaining they are unemployed." 1984 When accepting a figurine from a woman during a visit to Kenya he asked: "You are a woman aren't you?" 1986 He told a World Wildlife Fund meeting that "if it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and flies but is not an aeroplane and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." Prince Philip's opinion of Beijing, during a tour of China in 1986, was simply: "Ghastly." 1993 To a British tourist in Hungary in he quipped: "You can't have been here that long — you haven't got a pot belly." To survivors of the Lockerbie bombing he told them: "People usually say that after a fire it is water damage that is the worst. We are still drying out Windsor Castle." 1994 "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?", he asked an islander in the Cayman Islands. To a Caribbean rabbit breeder in Anguilla, he said: "Don't feed your rabbits pawpaw fruit — it acts as a contraceptive.

Then again, it might not work on rabbits." 1995 He asked a Scottish driving instructor in Oban: "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?" 1996 Following the Dunblane massacre, he questioned the need for a firearms ban: "If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" 1998 The Duke asked a British student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea: "You managed not to get eaten then?" 1999 In Cardiff he told children from the British Deaf Association, who were standing by a Caribbean steel band: "If you're near that music it's no wonder you're deaf".

2000 To guests at the opening reception of a new £18million British Embassy in Berlin: "It's a vast waste of space." At a Buckingham Palace drinks party, he told group of female Labour MPs: "Ah, so this is feminist corner then." On being offered fine Italian wines by Giuliano Amato, the former Prime Minister, at a dinner in Rome, he is said to have uttered: "Get me a beer. I don't care what kind it is, just get me a beer!" "People think there's a rigid class system here, but dukes have been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans." 2001 To Elton John: "Oh it's you that owns that ghastly car is it? We often see it when driving to Windsor Castle." 2002 While touring a factory near Edinburgh he said a fuse box was so crude it "looked as though it had been put in by an Indian".

2002 To Australian Aborigines during a visit to Australia with the Queen he asked: "Do you still throw spears at each other?" To the Aircraft Research Association, he said: "If you travel as much as we do, you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort, provided you don't travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly." 2009 Said to black dance troupe Diversity at the Royal Variety Performance: "Are you all one family?" To a young fashion designer at Buckingham Palace he told him: "You didn't design your beard too well, did you? You really must try better with your beard." 2010 On asking a female Sea Cadet what she did for a living, and being told that she worked in a nightclub (as a barmaid), the Duke asked “Is it a strip club?” Observing her surprise he dismissed the suggestion saying that it was “probably too cold for that anyway”. 2010 At a prize-giving ceremony for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards a girl told him that she'd been to Romania to help in an orphanage.

He replied: "Oh yes, there's a lot of orphanges in Romania - they must breed them". Others that are undated: "YOU have mosquitos. I have the Press." - To the matron of a hospital in the Caribbean. "If it doesn't fart or eat hay then she isn't interested" - speaking about his daughter, Princess Anne. "Can you tell the difference between them?" - The Duke's question after President Barack Obama said he met with the leaders of the UK, China and Russia. "The problem with London is the tourists. They cause the congestion. If we could just stop the tourism, we could stop the congestion." - on London traffic. "Well, you'll never fly in it, you're too fat to be an astronaut." - to a 13-year-old whilst visiting a space shuttle. “You look like you’re ready for bed!” - To the President of Nigeria, dressed in traditional robes.

Two New Zealand broadcasters have had big-foot-in-prissy-mouth moments: Kofi Annan is a 'Cheeky Darky' (Paul Holmes, New Zealand, 2003) Paul Holmes, a leading mouth on talkback radio and former face of the news-magazine show on the premier TV channel, chose to be deeply offended by a speech by the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, during Holmes' radio programme. Secretary-General Annan's speech was lauding the benefits of the United Nations. Mr Holmes thought less of the achievements and criticised the speech at length, referring to Secretary-General Annan several times as a 'cheeky darkie'. Links to source audio, apology and the 'offensive' speech here, should you wish to paddle in swill: Paul Holmes spent the rest of his week apologising. Comments on Governor-General the Rt. Hon. Sir Anand Satyanand GNZM, QSO, KStJ. (Paul Henry, New Zealand, 2010) The Governor-General of New Zealand is a role similar to that of a president, though not in the American sense.

He (or she; his predecessor was a woman) is the head of state, appointed by QE2 on the advice of the government of the day for a five-year term. In a breakfast TV interview with John Key–the Prime Minister of New Zealand–Paul Henry, a loudmouth, asked about the forthcoming change of incumbent. He asked whether the Prime Minister would be appointing someone 'more like a New Zealander, this time'. Sir Anand is a New Zealander, born and raised in Auckland. His father of Fijian-Indian descent came to NZ aged 14. Sir Anand was a high court judge. He speaks English with a strong Kiwi accent, Maori, Fijian, and Hindi. Paul Henry resigned. It was not his first nastiness. Supporting Guns is the same as Racism... - The Firing Line Forums Supporting Guns is the same as Racism... User Name Join Date: November 9, 2001 Location: The Old Pueblo A news story about another one of Prince Phillip's little 'jokes'. Highlights: Quote: Earlier this year, he asked Australian aborigines if they still threw spears at each other.

Quote: And in China, during the 1986 state visit, he described Peking as "ghastly" and told British students: "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed." Quote: Back home, Philip sparked controversy on a 1999 trip to a factory near Edinburgh, Scotland. Pointing to an old-fashioned fusebox, he said it looked as if it had been "put in by an Indian." Quote: More eyebrows were raised after he compared a cricket bat to a gun amid calls to ban firearms after the 1996 shooting of 16 children at an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland. "If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" Philip asked. Okay kids, which of these is not like the other ones? Bog and Agricola -- Are things in the UK really so bad that simply questioning public policy is treated like a sick joke?

__________________ Join Date: March 30, 2001 Posts: 3,604 Wow, one opinion out of all of them that I don't want to string him up for. Even for baseball, it is a terrible percentage. Join Date: October 19, 2001 Location: SD Sheesh! And I thought I had foot-in-mouth disease. __________________ There are five boxes to freedom: soap, ballot, witness, jury, cartridge. TFL Alumnus. Join Date: May 29, 1999 Posts: 1,938 Hey, I like some of these: Quote: Philip was visiting Exeter Cathedral with his wife as part of her Golden Jubilee tour of Britain when he spotted blind woman Susan Edwards and her guide dog in the crowd waiting for the royal visitors. "Do you know they have eating dogs for the anorexic now?" he asked Edwards. Although she didn't seem to react, people standing nearby raised their eyebrows without saying anything. Bad timing on this one, but pretty funny, if somewhat evil sounding, comment on the fundamental differences between actual physical handicaps like blindness and mostly mental diseases like anorexia.

Quote: Earlier this year, he asked Australian aborigines if they still threw spears at each other. Again in Australia, in 1998, he suggested that tribes in Papua New Guinea were still cannibals. "You managed not to get eaten, then?" he asked a student who had just returned from walking the Kokoda trail. Surely that was a jest. Quote: In the Cayman Islands, in 1994, he asked a wealthy islander: "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?" Hey, no shame in being descendants of hardy and brave (if bloodthirsty) pirates. Isn't Phillip descended from marauding Saxon and Germanic pillagers? Quote: More eyebrows were raised after he compared a cricket bat to a gun amid calls to ban firearms after the 1996 shooting of 16 children at an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland. "If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" Philip asked. I must admit, I like the reasoning on this one.

He really ought to stick to that type of reasoning and jokes and refrain from the racial ones. Skorzeny __________________ For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence. Sun Tzu At least they aren't Wogistanis – Whale Oil Beef Hooked | Whaleoil Media Prince Philip is in trouble again …gosh people are easily outraged: The Duke of Edinburgh has told a Filipino nurse that her country must be “half empty” because so many of her compatriots work for the NHS. The 91-year-old joked with staff during a visit to Luton and Dunstable Hospital, where he unveiled a £5.5million cardiac centre. Describing himself as being in a “jovial” mood, he said he was the “world’s most experienced curtain puller” and asked when the hospital would be getting a helipad to save him the journey by car. He then told one of the nurses: “The Philippines must be half empty – you’re all here running the NHS.” She laughed in response. Prince Philip is renowned for his controversial gaffes.

During a state visit to China in 1986, he told British students that they would become “slitty-eyed” if they stayed there. In 1994 he caused offence after asking a resident on the Cayman Islands: “Aren’t most of you descended from pirates?” Four years later, speaking to a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea, he said: “You managed not to get eaten then.” In 2002, he asked Australian aborigines during a foreign visit: “Do you still throw spears at each other then?” So far the only group of people he doesn’t seem to have offended are the Wogistanis…perhaps he should give Richard prosser a call. Prince Philip's 90th Birthday: Duke of Edinburgh's best gaffes - Telegraph Prince Philip Prince Philip's 90th Birthday: Duke of Edinburgh's best gaffes The Duke of Edinburgh has made a string of memorable quotes during his reign as the Queen's consort. On his 90th birthday, here is a selection of his memorable gaffes as he offers his own unique advice to people all over the world.

The Duke of Edinburgh Photo: PA Follow 1963 Speaking about the rate of British tax, he said: "All money nowadays seems to be produced with a natural homing instinct for the Treasury." 1965 On seeing an exhibition of "primitive" Ethiopian art, he muttered: "It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from her school art lessons." 1966 The Duke famously proclaimed: "British women can't cook". Related Articles 09 Jun 2011 1967 When asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union: "I would like to go to Russia very much, although the bastards murdered half my family." 1969 The Duke said to Tom Jones after his Royal Variety Performance: "What do you gargle with, pebbles?". He later added: "It is very difficult at all to see how it is possible to become immensely valuable by singing what I think are the most hideous songs." On the Royal Family's finances: "We go into the red next year. I shall probably have to give up polo." 1976 On a tour of Canada: "We don't come here for our health.

We can think of other ways of enjoying ourselves." 1981 During the recession he mused: “Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed." 1984 When accepting a figurine from a woman during a visit to Kenya he asked: "You are a woman aren't you?" 1986 He told a World Wildlife Fund meeting that "if it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and flies but is not an aeroplane and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." Prince Philip's opinion of Beijing, during a tour of China in 1986, was simply: "Ghastly." 1993 To a British tourist in Hungary in he quipped: "You can't have been here that long — you haven't got a pot belly." To survivors of the Lockerbie bombing he told them: "People usually say that after a fire it is water damage that is the worst. We are still drying out Windsor Castle." 1994 "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?", he asked an islander in the Cayman Islands.

To a Caribbean rabbit breeder in Anguilla, he said: "Don't feed your rabbits pawpaw fruit — it acts as a contraceptive. Then again, it might not work on rabbits." 1995 He asked a Scottish driving instructor in Oban: "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?" 1996 Following the Dunblane massacre, he questioned the need for a firearms ban: "If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" 1998 The Duke asked a British student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea: "You managed not to get eaten then?" 1999 In Cardiff he told children from the British Deaf Association, who were standing by a Caribbean steel band: "If you're near that music it's no wonder you're deaf".

2000 To guests at the opening reception of a new £18million British Embassy in Berlin: "It's a vast waste of space." At a Buckingham Palace drinks party, he told group of female Labour MPs: "Ah, so this is feminist corner then." On being offered fine Italian wines by Giuliano Amato, the former Prime Minister, at a dinner in Rome, he is said to have uttered: "Get me a beer. I don't care what kind it is, just get me a beer!" "People think there's a rigid class system here, but dukes have been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans." 2001 To Elton John: "Oh it's you that wons that ghastly car is it? We often see it when driving to Windsor Castle." 2002 While touring a factory near Edinburgh he said a fuse box was so crude it "looked as though it had been put in by an Indian".

2002 To Australian Aborigines during a visit to Australia with the Queen he asked: "Do you still throw spears at each other?" To the Aircraft Research Association, he said: "If you travel as much as we do, you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort, provided you don't travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly." 2009 Said to black dance troupe Diversity at the Royal Variety Performance: "Are you all one family?" To a young fashion designer at Buckingham Palace he told him: "You didn't design your beard too well, did you? You really must try better with your beard." 2010 On asking a female Sea Cadet what she did for a living, and being told that she worked in a nightclub (as a barmaid), the Duke asked “Is it a strip club?” Observing her surprise he dismissed the suggestion saying that it was “probably too cold for that anyway”. 2010 At a prize-giving ceremony for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards a girl told him that she'd been to Romania to help in an orphanage.

He replied: "Oh yes, there's a lot of orphanges in Romania - they must breed them". Others that are undated: "YOU have mosquitos. I have the Press." - To the matron of a hospital in the Caribbean. "If it doesn't fart or eat hay then she isn't interested" - speaking about his daughter, Princess Anne. "Can you tell the difference between them?" - The Duke's question after President Barack Obama said he met with the leaders of the UK, China and Russia. "The problem with London is the tourists. They cause the congestion. If we could just stop the tourism, we could stop the congestion." - on London traffic. LiveLeak.com - Prince Philip's best gaffes Prince Philip's best gaffes Speaking about the rate of British tax, he said: "All money nowadays seems to be produced with a natural homing instinct for the Treasury." 1965 On seeing an exhibition of "primitive" Ethiopian art, he muttered: "It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from her school art lessons." The Duke famously proclaimed: "British women can't cook".

1967 When asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union: "I would like to go to Russia very much, although the bastards murdered half my family." 1969 The Duke said to Tom Jones after his Royal Variety Performance: "What do you gargle with, pebbles?". He later added: "It is very difficult at all to see how it is possible to become immensely valuable by singing what I think are the most hideous songs." Prince Philip cracks Filipino nurse joke - BBC News BBC News Prince Philip cracks Filipino nurse joke 20 February 2013 Read more about sharing. Close share panel Media captionPrince Philip tells the nurse: "The Philippines must be half empty - you're all here running the NHS" The Duke of Edinburgh told a nurse from the Philippines that her country must be "half empty" - because so many of her compatriots have come to the UK to work for the NHS. He made the remark during a visit to Luton and Dunstable Hospital where he unveiled a £5.5m cardiac centre. "The Philippines must be half empty - you're all here running the NHS," the prince told the nurse, who laughed.

A hospital spokesperson said the duke's visit had been "hugely motivational". The 91-year-old royal, who called himself "the world's most experienced curtain puller", was said to be in a "jovial" mood and asked when the hospital would get a helipad to save him a journey by car. 'Cosmopolitan town' The hospital spokesperson would not comment on the duke's conversation with the nurse but said the hospital had not held a recent recruiting campaign in the Philippines, which had a population of 94.8 million in 2011. Media captionOne woman in the Filipino capital Manila described Prince Philip's joke as "unfair" "Luton is a very cosmopolitan town and the working staff at Luton and Dunstable Hospital reflects that," the spokesperson said. The Nursing and Midwifery Council said just over 16,000 of the 670,000 nurses in the UK were from the Philippines. The Duke of Edinburgh is well known for his outspoken and sometimes controversial comments.

During a state visit to China in 1986, he told a group of British students: "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed". In 1994 he asked an islander in the Cayman Islands: "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?" Four years later, speaking to a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea, the duke said: "You managed not to get eaten, then?" Responding to Tuesday's visit to Luton, Buckingham Palace said it would not comment on a private conversation. LiveLeak.com - Prince Philip's best gaffes (comments) Prince Philip's best gaffes Speaking about the rate of British tax, he said: "All money nowadays seems to be produced with a natural homing instinct for the Treasury." 1965 On seeing an exhibition of "primitive" Ethiopian art, he muttered: "It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from her school art lessons." The Duke famously proclaimed: "British women can't cook".

1967 When asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union: "I would like to go to Russia very much, although the bastards murdered half my family." 1969 The Duke said to Tom Jones after his Royal Variety Performance: "What do you gargle with, pebbles?". He later added: "It is very difficult at all to see how it is possible to become immensely valuable by singing what I think are the most hideous songs." BBC News | UK | Long line of princely gaffes Friday, 1 March, 2002, 12:38 GMT Long line of princely gaffes International diplomacy is not Prince Philip's strong suit The Duke of Edinburgh gave another foot-in-mouth display when he asked a Tamil priest about any links to the militant fighters the Tamil Tigers, during a visit to a Hindu temple with the Queen on her Golden Jubilee tour. Such gaffes have become the prince's trademark while going about his official duties. British women can't cook.

The Duke of Edinburgh During a state visit to China in 1986, he famously told a group of British students: "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed". And speaking to a driving instructor in Oban, Scotland, he asked: "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?". Other eyebrow-raising pronouncements have included: Still throwing spears? (Question put to an Australian Aborigine during a visit in March 2002) "British women can't cook." (1966) "Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed." (during the 1981 recession) "We didn't have counsellors rushing around every time somebody let off a gun, asking 'Are you all right?

Are you sure you don't have a ghastly problem?' You just got on with it." (commenting in 1995 on modern stress counselling for servicemen) "If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" (in 1996, amid calls to ban firearms after the Dunblane shooting) "Bloody silly fool!" (in 1997, referring to a Cambridge University car park attendant who failed to recognise him) "It looks as if it was put in by an Indian." (in 1999, referring to an old-fashioned fuse box in a factory near Edinburgh) "Deaf?

If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf." (in 1999, to young deaf people in Cardiff, referring to a school's steel band) "They must be out of their minds." (in 1982, in the Solomon Islands, after being told that the annual population growth was only 5%) "You are a woman, aren't you?" (in 1984, in Kenya, to a native woman who had presented him with a small gift) If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it The Duke of Edinburgh "Your country is one of the most notorious centres of trading in endangered species in the world." (in 1991, in Thailand, after accepting a conservation award) "Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease." (in 1992 in Australia, when asked to stroke a Koala bear) "You can't have been here that long - you haven't got a pot belly." (in 1993, to a Briton in Budapest,

 Hungary) "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?" (in 1994, to an islander in the Cayman Islands) "You managed not to get eaten, then?" (in 1998, to a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea) "If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." (at a 1986 World Wildlife Fund meeting) Top UK stories now:

Question: Who asked of a Cayman Islander, in 1994, `Aren't most of you descended from pirates??
Answer: Prince Philip